This likely has a lot to do with the potential passing of a new EV bill in the state

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is currently fighting for an electric vehicle (EV) bill to pass in Texas, and to sweeten the pot, he has mentioned building a second plant in the Lone Star state.

"When we do establish a manufacturing plant outside of California, Texas would be a leading candidate for that," said Musk.

Musk is even trying to appeal to Texan consumers by discussing a design for an electric pickup truck that would be stronger than any current gasoline truck.

"I have this idea for a really advanced electric truck that has the performance of a sports car but actually more towing power and more carrying capacity than a gasoline or diesel truck of comparable size," said Musk. "That could be really cool, and I think that would probably make sense to do that at a new plant."

Musk is likely showing off what Tesla can do for Texas in terms of car sales because of a recent bill -- which Musk referred to as a "life or death" situation for the automaker.

The proposed bill is House Bill 3351, which would allow distributors and manufacturers of electric vehicles (EVs) only to sell directly to customers without the use of dealerships. The bill was filed by Rep. Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin).

With the passing of the bill, Musk said he would hope to sell about 1,500-2,000 EVs in Texas alone for 2014. Tesla typically sells about 10,000 in North America total.

"If we were allowed to go direct, I think we would make Texas on par with California in terms of emphasis," said Musk.

Tesla is in a particularly good spot right now, and is looking to expand as quickly as possible to keep that momentum up. Last month, Musk announced that Tesla was shipping over 500 Model S EVs weekly. Not long after that, reported that the company is now profitable thanks to the Model S exceeding sales targets. Tesla Model S sales reached 4,750, which topped the sales outlook of 4,500 posted in the February shareholder letter.

quote: The proposed bill is House Bill 3351, which would allow distributors and manufacturers of electric vehicles (EVs) only to sell directly to customers without the use of dealerships. The bill was filed by Rep. Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin).

More crutches for EV's to elevate them over ICE's no matter how anti-competitive or unfair. Seriously, why can't EVERY manufacturer sell directly to customers? What makes Tesla and other EV's special again?

This frees them from the "burden" of having to actually, you know, invest in their business and have dealerships. Or provide a product compelling enough to have others wanting to invest in your company and purchase franchises for dealerships. Like everyone else has managed to do.

"So, I think the same thing of the music industry. They can't say that they're losing money, you know what I'm saying. They just probably don't have the same surplus that they had." -- Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA